Revell 1/72
HMMWV M998 Cargo Troop Carrier/M1025 Armament Carrier

Background

The high-mobility, multi-purpose wheeled vehicle, known as the Humvee or Hummer is one of the vehicles most used by the U.S. Armed Forces. It is a genuine all-purpose vehicle. The platform can be used to build a cargo/troop carrier, weapons carrier, ambulance, living quarters and an anti-aircraft version.

The main advantages of the vehicle are its low center of gravity, combined with high ground clearance. It gives the HMMWV very good driving performance over difficult terrain. The bodywork is completely made of aluminum and offers light weight and long service life combined with low maintenance costs. If necessary, the Hummer can even be parachuted into the war zone from a low altitude.

The vehicle’s in the first series (M998) are equipped with a General Motors 6.2 liter, turbo-diesel engine that delivers 150 bhp at 3,600 rpm. It has a top speed of 105 kph. The tank capacity of 94 liters gives it a maximum range of 563 km. The empty weight is 2,359 kg, with a maximum of 3.5 tons fully loaded.

Without any conversion, it can ford 0.76 m of water, but with additional equipment the Hummer has a fording depth of 152 m, although the ground clearance is only 1.93. A total of well over 100,000 of the first batch of the vehicle were built before it was changed to the M998-A1 series in 1993, over 89,000 of which were in service with the U.S. Armed Forces alone.

The Kit

The kit comes in an end-opening type box. The box art shows a M1025 armament carrier in the foreground with a M998 cargo/troop carrier version parked behind it. This is a 2 in one kit. Either of these vehicles can be built with the parts provided in the kit, but not both. You have to choose which one to do. A side panel has two photos of the armament carrier version built up, showing it’s top and bottom. The box calls out a skill level of 4, which means that it is a kit with more than 150 pieces and aimed at more experienced modelers. The back of the box shows the box arts of 5 other AFV kits that Revell of Germany markets, the box art of a box of military figures and a picture of their paint products.

Inside the box is a single zip-lock type cello bag with 8 trees of light tan parts in it. There is a long and narrow strip of clear acetate to use for the vehicle’s windows. Both it and the small decal sheet are taped to the back of the instructions. The decal sheet has a tissue sheet over its face to protect it from being scratched. The clear acetate has tissue too.

The instructions consist of six pages that are folded in the center to create 12 pages. These are inserted into each other and unbound.

Page one begins with a black and white photo of the model made up as both the armament carrier and the cargo/troop carrier. Remember, you can only build one or the other with the kit. This is followed by the history of the vehicle in both German and English. The bottom of the page has addresses to reach Revell in various countries.

Page two has READ BEFORE YOU START instructions in numerous languages, including English.

Page 3 begins with international assembly symbol explanations, followed by SAFTY ADVICE and a blurb about how much care was taken to design the kit.

Page 4 is a paint colors listing.

Page 5 begins with the parts tree drawings, followed by the first four assembly step drawings. Steps 1 through 9 are common to building either the cargo/troop carrier or the armament carrier version.

Page 6 through 9 give a grand total of 37 assembly steps.

Steps 10 to 26 are only for building the armament carrier version.

Steps 27 to 37 are devoted to building the cargo/troop carrier version.

Colors are called out in all steps for things that need to be painted before being hidden behind other parts. Good move Revell. In some steps, a clock face is shown. This indicates that you should allow the glue to harden in that step before proceeding to the next step. You have the option, on the armament carrier, to open or close the turret ring on it’s roof and mount the 50 cal machine gun or not. The cargo/troop carrier has the option of displaying it with or without the canvas roof over the cargo bed. The doors on the cab are separate parts and can be displayed open or closed.  There are no figures in the kit.

Pages 10 has two 5-view illustrations for marking and painting the armament carrier.

 One scheme is for the 1 BN/.D-Company, 187th Regiment “Rakkasans”, 101st Airborne Div. “Screaming Eagles”, Operation “Enduring Freedom”, Afghanistan 2002. It is in a camouflage pattern of matt bronze green, matt anthracite gray and matt leather brown.

The second scheme is in the same pattern. It is a vehicle for the 18th Military Police Brigade, KFOR, Kosovo, March, 2000.

The first scheme for the cargo/troop carrier also carries the above pattern. It is a vehicle with the 7th Brigade, KFOR, Kosovo, June 1999.

The second scheme for the cargo/troop carrier is in an overall matt sandy yellow. It is a vehicle with the 133rd Engineer Brigade, Operation “Iraqi Freedom”, Baghdad, 2004.

The small decal sheet carries a number of license plates, vehicle serial numbers etc. This and the strip of clear acetate to do the cab windows, and a sheet of SAFETY WARNINGS (in numerous languages) complete the kit’s contents.

The parts trees are not alphabetized. They only have the parts numbered.

There are two identical trees of parts, that are numbered 1 to 11, 13 and 15, 37, 38 and 38A. (25 parts per tree) These trees hold: wheels, the vehicle’s frame and suspension parts.

There are also two more identical parts trees, that are numbered 12, 16, 17 to 25, 28, 31, 32, 32A, 33, 45 to 47. (25 parts per tree) Each tree holds: the vehicle’s floor, hood, seats, windshield frame, side panels, fenders, grill, steering wheel, rear view mirrors, grab handles etc.

The next, (5th) slightly smaller parts tree, holds part numbers 26, 27, 30, 35, 36, 39, 40 and 42. (8 parts) These are the armament carrier’s roof, doors, machine gun mounting ring etc.

The 6th tree holds: the doors for the cargo/troop carrier version, the canvas cargo bed roof for that version, the stake sides for the cargo bed etc. Parts are numbered 55 to 69.

The 7th very small tree just holds 3 parts: the 50 cal machine-gun, it’s ammo can and ring mount. Parts are numbered 41, 43 and 44.

The 8th, and last small tree, just holds one part. It is the vehicle’s dash board, numbered 48.

The clear strip of acetate, for fabricating cab windows and the decal sheet complete the kit’s contents.

Conclusions

This is a neat modern vehicle. There are numerous details on it. Recommended.